Among the Betrayed

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

If only Nina could swim. She wanted to dive back into the water, swim for miles without surfacing once. Escape.

Failing that, she needed to jump out of the water, run through the woods, hope she could disappear into the trees. But the Population Police would only start a manhunt here, comb through the whole area. She didn't have a chance.

All those images — swimming, running, being caught— flashed through Nina's mind in an instant. She even saw Percy and Matthias and Alia being caught with her. It would be all Nina's fault. She had betrayed them after all.

Nina froze in agony. Her mind wouldn't supply a single response she could give to the uniformed men, a single method of buying even a second more to think.

Then she heard Alia's voice behind her.

"Just a minute," the little girl said. "My sister and I left our I.D.'s with our shoes on the shore."

Okay, Nina thought, a part of her mind surprisingly lucid despite her terror.

That gives me an extra minute or two. I should have thought of that. But won't it make the policemen angrier when they discover she's lying?

"Get your I.D.'s, then," one of the men on the bridge growled.

Nina looked back over her shoulder. Alia disappeared around the bend.

It's not fair, Nina thought.

Now Alia and the boys are going to be safe, and I'm not.

She could just imagine Alia and Percy and Matthias running now, getting as far away from the river as possible. Sure, Alia had given Nina a little extra time — but what good was that? How long before the Population Policemen on the bridge realized Alia wasn't coming back? What would they do to Nina then?

But there was Alia, wading back toward Nina, carrying two plastic cards in her hand. Nina gaped, strained her neck to see what Alia was holding. Alia drew even with Nina, slipped her fingers into Nina's hand, and pulled her along.

"Don't look so surprised," Alia hissed out of the side of her mouth. "Let me do all the talking."

That wouldn't be hard. Nina was so stunned, she didn't think she even had a voice anymore. For she'd glimpsed the cards in Alia's hand, and they looked like ordinary I.D.'s. One was stamped, SUSAN BROWN. The other said, JANICE BROWN.

And they contained Alia's and Nina's pictures.

No — Nina looked again — it wasn't really their pictures. But the resemblance was so close, Nina was sure the policemen would be fooled. As long as she and Alia didn't make any mistakes.

Alia held the I.D.'s as carelessly as if they were just some pretty leaves she'd picked up off the ground.

They reached the shore, and still Alia marched forward, Nina trailing by a few steps. The brush growing at the water's edge poked her ankles and pricked her feet. She stepped gingerly, half stumbling. Alia's strong grip held her up.

"It's illegal to swim in that river," one of the men said sternly. "That's Government property. We could arrest you for trespassing."

Alia held out the I.D.'s for his inspection. He took them, glanced at them quickly, then handed them to the other man.

"Well?" the first man said. 'Aren't you scared of being arrested?"

"Oh, please don't arrest us," Alia said, her little^girl voice sounding even more sweet and childish than ever. "We're going to visit our grandmother, and we slipped in the mud. We couldn't let her see us like that. We thought we could just wash off quickly — we didn't know we were breaking any laws. We're sorry."

"Where does your grandmother live?"

"Terrazzine," Alia said confidently. Nina had never heard of the place.

"Doesn't your sister talk?" the second man said, hand' ing the I.D. cards back to Alia. Alia stuffed them in her pocket.

"No, sir," Alia said, just as Nina was opening her mouth to answer. Nina closed her mouth and hoped nobody had noticed. "My sister's mute, sir. And not quite right in the head, if you know what I mean. I have to take care of her, my mother says."

"Well, you're a brave little thing," the first man said. "We'll let you off, this time. But you be careful, and stay on the road from now on, you hear? We're not far from the Population Police prison, you know. I've been saying for years, if any of those prisoners escaped—"

"I know, sir," Alia said, seeming to quell a shiver of fear. "My mother has told us about the prison."

The policemen turned in one direction, and Alia and Nina went the other way. Nina noticed for the first time that Alia had her boots and Nina's looped around her neck, tied together by the shoelaces.

"Here. Let's put our shoes back on, Janice dear," Alia said, a little too loudly.

Dumbly Nina stuck out first one foot and then the other, and let Alia cram her stockings and boots on. She heard a car roaring away behind her. The policemen were gone.

Nina sagged against a tree in relief. "What. . how did you—"

"Shh," Alia said. "Sometimes they come back and check out your story. It's not safe for you to talk yet. But keep walking."

She tugged on Nina's hand, and Nina obediently kept pace beside the younger girl. They were walking down the middle of the road now, in plain sight, for anyone to see.

"Can't you explain as we walk?" Nina grumbled, trying not to move her lips.

"Nope," Alia said.

The sun beat down from overhead. The woods fell away alongside the road, and they walked past scattered houses and scraggly fields. This was countryside Nina had seen twice before — coming to school and then leaving it — but she'd been inside a car and numb with fear both times. She was beyond numbness now. Her mind kept replaying her moments of terror — the water pulling her under, the policeman yelling, "Come out and show us your I.D.!" And Alia coming to her rescue.

"When it's safe to talk," Nina said quietly, "when we meet up with Percy and Matthias again, the three of you are going to tell me everything. And… and I'm going to tell you everything, too."

Alia flashed her a look that Nina couldn't read. It might have meant, "Quit talking." It might have meant, "You're crazy if you think we're telling you anything."

But it also might have meant, "All right. It's time to share."